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Do bottles shed microplastics?

Manufacturer > store > pantry > garbage can > dump.

Isn’t the majority of this buried in the ground in dumps that are sealed off from groundwater?

I suspect our clothes, cars/tires, houses, and other things that live outside contribute more to microplastics than food containers.




Yes, they shed plastics:

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/01/12/plastic-bottles-n...

The question should be reversed, is there anything made of plastic that doesn't shed particles? It seems likely not, they all tend to shed.


Do air molecules in gaseous form colliding with the plastic contribute to micro-plastic production? Oxygen is a notoriously active element....


Fair point, but I don’t store very much of my food in a tire and I rarely, if ever put food in a shirt before I microwave it.

In the other hand, I probably have about a pound of Tupperware in my body. I guess my point is that you’re right about micro plastics in the environment, but I’m more concerned about the ones in me.

(Strenuously agree that both are bad).


I don’t know the exact sources and that’s what we should be studying. For all we know it’s tires to roadways to rain runoff that makes it into ground water or bodies of water that we eventually treat for drinking.


Fair point. Needs more study before dummies like me make assumptions.

(Still not buying any Tupperware, though).


Me too! I use glass at home.


That’s a fair point reusable containers are a great candidate for replacement with glass. You are right overall though we definitely seem to be polluting our environment with plastics that will never go away.


Use the same rule for tupperware that you apply to shirts! I store and buy food in plastic containers often, but I always move it onto a ceramic dish before I microwave it.


Ditto here but only recently. Currently working all the plastic I can put of my food prep workflow. Insidious situation we find ourselves in.




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